What does window-cleaning have to do with health and well-being? (Part 1)

I have just tried to clean my windows.

Once again.

Have been doing that for about 34 years, 

I guess since I got married and had my own place to take care of.

And once again, I am not really happy with the results.

Yes, they are kind of clean now.

But only kind of.😩

Was just thinking that if ANYBODY OUT THERE was to find a really effective way to clean windows, I WOULD WANT TO KNOW ABOUT IT!

SERIOUSLY!!!

Please contact me if you have.🤗

Well, when it comes to being healthy and fit, I have also been searching for about the same amount of time.

Oh no - wait!

I wasn’t actually seriously searching for solutions for my poor immune system until I had my 4th baby at age 40. 

Not only did I have to lay on the couch for the entire pregnancy as I was just too weak to do anything, I just couldn’t get my health and energy back after the birth and subsequent move to New Zealand from our home in French Polynesia, where we’d been living the previous 14 years.

That’s when I first started taking supplements.

Really expensive ones that somebody recommended me at a market here in NZ.

I was really grateful to have found them, with generous friends in the USA financing them as we had no money for anything more than survival.

But - as much as they helped me - they were too expensive to maintain. I felt bad for our friends to have to put out so much money month after month.

That's when my search for something else began.

Anything

That would bring back my health.

Long story short: 

Nothing really worked.

While I regained reasonable energy little by litte, my immune system was still shocking!

I would come down with any and every virus making the rounds.

A problem I’ve had since childhood.

When I knew that I was going to be traveling back and forth to Uganda to follow my life-long dream to make a difference in the lives of orphans and vulnerable children, I knew I HAD TO DO SOMETHING to boost my immune system!

I didn’t want to be sick just prior to or during one of my short trips.

I needed to be in the best physical shape possible.

Went to see a naturopath and did what she recommended:

No sugar, no gluten, no dairy and lots of supplements.

For about 1 year, this worked quite well and I found myself pretty healthy.

But I have to admit, embarrassing, I know🤦🏽‍♀️, that my self-control disappeared as soon as I was doing a bit better and dairy and sugar were back. Not nearly as much as before, but still obviously too much…

And the supplements were just more than we could afford long-term, so they also got ditched.

Enter more sickness…

I started eating the Trim Healthy Mama way early 2013.

I wanted to be healthy - and the trim also sounded good as menopause was messing with me and making me gain weight. Out with the sugar, baby (at least mostly)!

BUT

 

Sadly, eating this healthy way didn’t do the trick for my immune system.

It was ridiculous!

Even during our covid lockdown in 2020, while I stayed home, I managed to come down with a cold.

Don’t ask me where I got it.

It seemed that I was producing the colds myself.

Arrghhhhh😩

As covid was actually starting to make the rounds in NZ in early 2022, I had made sure I was in my very best possible physical shape.

Eating only healthy foods, no sugars, dairy and gluten.

Taking supplements,  getting rest and sunshine.

I felt I was ready and armed for covid and when 2 family members got it, I didn’t try to stay away from them.

Figured I might as well get it and get it over with, since my immune system was surely as strong as it had ever been and I was feeling great.

WRONG!!!

I got it worse than the rest of the family, in spite of me living a lot healthier than them.

And afterwards, it felt like a bomb had gone off in my body.

Allergies from decades ago resurfaced.

My very fragile sleep that I had just managed to get to a decent place, was completely messed up again and I was struggling to sleep.

Energy levels were poor and not improving with time.

I wasn't able to shake the ongoing cough and cold symptoms.

It was so annoying!

I self-diagnosed myself with long-covid.

I had learned that the treatment for long-covid was antihistamines, which suppress the immune system.

I felt helpless as I would have been stupid suppressing my already compromised immune system, right?!

Besides this, my digestion had been less than ideal for a few years and even though I did all the 'right things', it wasn’t working properly.

As much as I was trying to be frugal, not wanting to spend money on seeing a doctor or naturopath, I realised that I really DID need to pay attention to my body and figure out what was wrong.

After all, I had heard that the gut is closely related to health. I have learned since then, that 80% of the immune system comes from the gut. The gut is our second 'brain'. It is CRUCIAL for health!

Enter a naturopath that diagnosed me with leaky gut.

The cure?

Eat 9 cups of (preferably organic) veggies, plus home made bone broth, Sauerkraut, Kombucha and Kefir DAILY!

WHHHAAAAT????

I felt like crying when I came back from that appointment.

😭

How in the world was I going to be able to accomplish this sustainably?

I felt overwhelmed by what it was going to take to get me healthy.

It would be all-consuming to implement her plan.

NOT what I wanted to spend my days on!

(read Part 2)😉